1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method of recovering or otherwise isolating L-quebrachitol from rubber latex serums.
2. Prior Art
L-Quebrachitol, chemically known to be a monomethyl ether of L-inositol, is widely found in quebraco barks, para rubber trees called Hevea brasiliensis and various other plants. This compound is termed L-(-)-2-O-methyl -chiroinositol.
Inositols are cyclohexanehexols having six hydroxyl groups bonded on the cyclohexane nucleus, They are stereoisomeric in structure and have nine isomers, among which the myoinositol is most abundant in the natural world. It exists as a phosphoric ester in plants and as a phosphatidyl inositol in organisms and animals. Such an isomer is important from the biochemical point of view, and certain of its derivatives have been used as essential components for some antibiotics. To this end, many studies have been made of the synthesis of various inositol derivatives particularly in the form of their phosphoric esters for biological use.
L-Quebrachitol, because of its optical activity, may act as a physiologically active material for organisms and also as a starting material for pharmaceutical products and agricultural chemicals. This compound, however, is currently available from rubber latex serums on a rather small scale.
It has been proposed that L-quebrachitol be recovered from rubber latex serums as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,758,616. This prior method is directed to extracting L-quebrachitol from serum solids with the use of a hot alcohol such as ethanol, propanol, butanol or the like, followed by concentration, cooling and deposition of the extract. Such heating mode of recovery is hazardous and costly and liable to entrain eluates other than L-quebrachitol which adversely affects the purity of the final compound.
Rubber latex serums have in most instances been discarded as waste solutions in countries in which rubber trees are cultivated to produce natural rubber. It is known that those serums can be evaporated into a particulate material for use as a rubber processing additive as taught by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 63-161002.